Jordan Bans Saddam Novel

Critics judge it boring, but some in the Middle East consider Get Out of Here, Curse You!, the latest novel by Saddam Hussein, dangerous.The former Iraqi dictator is behind bars and stripped of power but Jordan was anxious enough to ban his tale yesterday, claiming it could damage regional relations.I suppose this is one author who will definitely NOT be doing a book tour this summer.

When there have been laws like that, they have simply prevented the criminal from making a profit--royalties going into a victims' compensation fund, for instance, whether a general fund or the victims of that particular criminal.

Feel free to explain why funding victims' compensation funds is a bad idea, either generally, or in the specific case of Saddam Hussein.

> So publishing the works of mass-murderers is good?!?Freedom of speech means nothing if it only applies to books about Grandma and Apple Pie.> Who gets the money?Publication does not equal profit. Ain't nothing wrong with preventing a criminal from profiting from his crimes. But that is entirely seperate from preventing them from publishing.

Thank you, apparently they do exist and are constitutional as long as the focus on the guilty. If we were to apply it to Jordan, they should publish the books and then give the profits the Iraqi gov't.

Some states do indeed have such laws, but many states quietly repealed these laws in the last few years. The law that many people speak of when they talk about criminals profiting from their crimes originated in California. I believe California also repealed the law.

Keep in mind that we're talking about an international incident here. I have no idea what laws come into play when you're trying the deposed dictator of another country. I'm sure there's a blending of international, US, and Iraqi laws somewhere in there. Depending on what they do in Iraq, it could be very different from what happens here.